Superboth in Berlin 12-14 May 2022 / FEZ Berlin [Trade Fairs for musical Instruments & Music]



www.superbooth.com/en/

 

Last edited: May 11, 2022

Please tell my what new stuff Ableton is showing!

 

You'll have to be patient, the show hasn't even started yet.
Wait a few days, then we'll know more if there will be any innovations.

 

Synth Anatomy has nice previews of stuff that's known as of yet.

Warning: causes serious gearlust.

 

Spoiler: Donner B1, Chinese low-budget music brand releases its first analog Synthesizer - May 8, 2022

Donner B1, Chinese low-budget music brand releases its first analog Synthesizer - May 8, 2022

Chinese low-budget guitar pedal and music tech manufacturer Donner has launched B1, it’s first 303-style analog bassline Synthesizer with sequencer.

If you start playing the guitar as a young musician, you often don’t have the big budget to buy the high-end pedals from Strymon, Eventide or others. The first click then usually goes to Amazon or other international retailers where you can get affordable pedals.

Here, you can also find the Chinese brand Donner which has released many very affordable effect pedals in recent years. Already for less than 20€. I also took a closer look at some of them with synths (Yellow Fall, Wave, Tutti Love, Vintaverb). Today came the news that Donner now also builds affordable synthesizers.I t’s not a hot SB news but a synth news worth reporting.


Donner B1 Analog Bass Synthesizer
B1 is Donner’s first Synthesizer. It is an analog bass Synthesizer with a single oscillator. The alarm bells are going off: single oscillator design, could this be a 303 clone? It could be because: you can choose two wavefroms either sawtooth or square and modify the pitch. Like on the original Roland TB-303.

Then, the signal flows into a filter with cutoff, resonance and depth controls. On the modulation side, you get a simple decay envelope. Also similar.

It also a built-in distortion/saturation to add spice to your sounds and a tape delay effect. Each effect can be turn on and off individually with a switch. The effects circuits are probably from their pedal series.


Step Sequencer
The B1 analog bass Synthesizer can be played in various ways. Either with 26 silicone keys with colored backlights, with an sequencer or via MIDI. Yes, there is a step sequencer. It looks like it has 16 steps (bottom key row) with 128 factory sequence presets and 128 user programmable presets. The sequencer controls are located on the right side. You can find here: tap tempo, pattern, gate length, slide, play/stop, save, accent with a dedicated amount knob, rec/edit, clear/rest, and ratcheting.

In the same field, you can find additional keyboard controls including octave up/down, an arpeggiator, and a hold function.


Connectivity
The synth has front panel and rear panel connections. On the front, you have an aux in, headphone, sync in and syc out. At first I thought “oh cool modular patch points”, but I was wrong.

On the backside, you have a USB-C socket for USB-MIDI so you can use it as a MIDI keyboard as well. There is a MIDI in/out interface on 2.5mm TRS allowing you to send MIDI data to other synths. Thus, the B1 is also a MIDI sequencer.

Audio side, you get an 1/8” audio input for routing external audio in the synth as well as a 1/4″ TS mono main output. And almost forgot, there is also a big master output knob on the interface.


First Impression & Availability
Donner, one of the best-known companies for low-budget guitar pedals, is now making synthesizers. That’s interesting news. There is currently no sound demo of the B1 analog bass Synthesizer in the wild. Even without a demo, I’m pretty sure the sound journey is going in the corner of the Roland TB-303/Behringer TD-3.

The features are almost the same (single oscillator, decay envelope, accent control…). Only with a different interface and operation. And that looks not bad at all. I’m very curious to see if it can keep up with other current bassline synthesizers. In terms of price, it nearly aligns on the well-known 303 clones from China. Or is it even just a repackaged 303 clone?

Donner B1 Analog Bass Synthesizer is available now for $168.99 USD from the Donner US webshop. It looks like it’s currently only available from the US warehouse. Use the code K8 to save an additional 8% OFF and get it for $155,48 USD plus shipping.

More information here: Donner US

 

Last edited: May 11, 2022

Superbooth 22: SOMA Labs TERRA, an experimental microtonal Synthesizer - May 6, 2022

At Superbooth 22, SOMA Labs will premiere TERRA, a new experimental microtonal Synthesizer that tries to unify nature with technology.

The Superbooth, the 2022 edition will take place next week in Berlin. It is the class reunion of all Synthesizer and electronic music friends from all over the world. SB is also an event where you can get to know new products and the heads behind the fascinating products. The event makes it clear how colorful the developer scene is.

There the big players, often represented by marketing people, line up with fascinating tiny Boutique companies. For example, you can meet Vlad Kreimer, the SOMA Labs founder and ingenious developer of unique experimental synthesizers, drum machines, and effects. At Superbooth 22, the still-young company will premiere a very unique, mysterious microtonal Synthesizer.



SOMA Labs TERRA
TERRA is a polyphonic microtonal Synthesizer that tries to unify nature with technology and reach a perfect balance of simplicity and versatility. It offers a digital engine that contains 32 synthesis algorithms. They are complex in the code but are designed in such a way that the user can achieve a wide sound palette with very few parameters. Less sound programming, more the focus on music and performance.

SOMA Labs promised classical beautiful tones to complex atonal noise and all this with very smooth and fast transitions between the extremes. They have not yet disclosed which algorithms power the TERRA Synthesizer. From the first sound demo, it sounds very organic and natural. A lot like physical modeling, but my ears could be wrong. Then, it has a built-in FX processor with which you can take your sounds further or for adding the final touch.

Another thing is still unclear from the engine. SOMA Labs says: “while the sound generation is digital, TERRA has a unique custom-built and top-quality analog part that makes it sound rich, natural, clear, and powerful at the same time”. Does that mean that the Terra is hybrid and hides analog technology inside like analog filters, saturation…? At the latest at the Superbooth 22, we will know more about it.



Innovative Interface
The SOMA Labs developers, including Vlad Kreimer, are constantly experimenting with new interface concepts. They continue that in the TERRA. Visually, it is made of a piece of wood with knobs, sensors, and more. Very fascinating and different from what you know from traditional electronic instruments that have an industrial look.

TERRA is all about complex pitch manipulations and expressivity. For this, the interface is packed with sensors: 12-note sensors with velocity and pressure (attack and vibrato), 4 dynamic sensors for timbre control, 4 pitch-shifting sensors, 2 hold sensors, and a 3-axis motion sensor. The latter allows you to create modulations by using your hands and body.

The built-in sensor-based keyboard looks small but is powerful as a full Grand Piano. Each note of it can be tuned with an accuracy of 125 steps semitone achieved with a new unique system of pitch-shifting using four sensors. By pressing different combinations, you get 16 keyboard transpose variations including up to 3 octaves up and down, fifth, fourth, third, tone, etc.

Further, TERRA can save up to 96 presets that are stored directly on the play sensors. No display like no all other SOMA products before. A 6 LED-sensor triangle displays all information for you.

Official Demo
A video matching the new Synthesizer is available on YouTube. Here SOMA takes us into strange, mysterious worlds of nature aliens, or so. To be honest I don’t know how to call these. Terra looks very fascinating, but I’m not sure if the interface is that easy to use. It looks very out of this world. And in connection with this intro video, my first impression is reinforced. I’ll test it out for you next week in Berlin. If I don’t get in touch, I must have been kidnapped by the nature space aliens.SOMA Labs Terra will be available at end of 2022/beginning of 2023. The price is TBA.

More information here: SOMA Labs

 

I've been eyeing this as the first information came about, the connectivity looks good and if the sequencer is solid it looks reasonable. I'm waiting for sound samples for the synths though, of course.

 

Superbooth 22: Eventide Misha interval-based instrument & sequencer (by Robin Vincet / 12.05.2022)

Misha is a colourful and innovative instrument and sequencer which uses an interval-based approach to playing and creating melodies. It’s been a good 5 years since Eventide released their last Eurorack module, theEuroDLL . Misha is completely different and totally unexpected. Eventide is known for its effects and so you could almost count on a Blackhole reverb or TriceraChorus making its way to Eurorack. But Misha is an instrument and sequencer, a creative expression of melody production – where did this come from?

There are not a whole lot of details thus far but there are a number of things we do know. We know that it can be played like a keyboard instrument. It has MIDI and three sets of CV/Gate outputs, indicating the ability to output 3-note chords or 3 separate tracks. It talks about having an interval-based approach which would support the idea of chords and using the CV/Gate outs together. The screen in the middle appears to represent notes, intervals or scales. Apparently, there are over 100 factory scales and room for more.

Oscillations? There’s talk of outputting waveforms via the audio output from an internal oscillator. I wonder what sort of sound it makes? Is the trailer video using external sound or is it coming from Misha? What we do seem to see is some kind of sequence playing back from a Euclidean style circle on the screen while someone plays so notes on the buttons.

It’s intriguingly mysterious. It has CV inputs for external triggers and modulation. There are four user-assignable buttons and 18 user presets. The sequencing is tone row based and there’s a comprehensive control system to manipulate what’s going on. This one is undoubtedly fascinating. Misha should be available in the summer for $599. Hop down to the Eventide booth Z280 to find out more.

This video has just arrived from Klangfarbe which is very illuminating.

• 
  
  
  • Eventide website.

 

is that like donner kebab?

 

Superbooth 22: LepLoop v3 minimalist electronic groovebox (12.05.2022)

The LepLoop is a minimalist electronic music live performance analogue groovebox with 4 rhythm tracks and one capacitor-based analogue sequencer track. The LepLoop groovebox has been around a while but at Superbooth this year the makers are showing an updated series 3 version with a number of enhancements. And if this is the first time you’ve seen it then welcome to a decade of LepLooping.

LepLoop features two VCOs, one with triangle and square waves, the other with a sawtooth, ring modulation and FM. A white noise generator brings in some snare while there’s a kick drum circuit with distortion and a trigger mixer. The filter is a diode-based low pass with 24dB/oct. There are two VCAs, two AR envelopes and a single LFO. There’s a four-channel mixer, Clock output, MIDI and a whole stack of CV patch points.

For sequencing, there are four tracks of digital rhythms with 64 steps for each track. For the analogue sequencer, you have 16 programmable capacitors. It actually works very much like an analogue delay and over time the signal stored in the capacitors will degrade. The onboard EEPROM can store 16 banks of 10 rhythm patterns.

LepLoop is a lovely looking device, full of character and electronic adventures. If you’d like a go then head over to booth Z176 where you’ll also find new versions of the Lumanoise, Lumamix and Resomix.

• LEP website.

 

Superbooth 22: IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro Desktop Black

Oh yes, the award-winning UNO Synth Pro Desktop synthesizer now has a bold new look. For all those people put off by black and white keyboards with red trim. A change is as good as a rest, or so they say and IK Multimedia wants to appeal to our darker side with the boldly black version of the UNO Synth Pro Desktop. It has the same stuff inside but just doesn’t look quite as lively.

It has three darkly discrete oscillators with pulse width modulation, hard sync and continuously variable wave shape. Add in a black noise oscillator, some murky FM and a dark Ring Modulator and you’ve got the makings of a half-decent analogue and paraphonic black synthesizer. It has two noir state variable filters with 24 modes in series and parallel configurations to really nail the exact darkness level of tonal sculpting you were after. The front panel 16 slot modulation matrix helps you route things to all the right places.

In terms of excitement, there’s a black buttoned 64-step sequencer, 10-mode arpeggiator and 256 user-editable presets that light up black. If you can find the back of the synth in the dark you’ll discover two lots CV/Gate, MIDI In/Out, and audio input to the filters and balanced stereo and headphone outputs. If you want to get into the dark details then there’s an all-new black software editor to match.

The UNO Synth Pro Desktop Black is a very capable little machine of synthesis and is available now for €349.99.There’s no mention of whether the full-size UNO Synth Pro will get the same treatment.

www.ikmultimedia.com/products/unosynthpro/index.php?p=black

 

Superbooth 22: Polyend Play sample-based groovebox and sequencer (799 €) 12.05.2022

The long-awaited, teased and semi-leaked Polyend Play is here! 8 sample-based audio tracks and 8 polyphonic MIDI tracks with an awesome button grid interface. Let’s Play!

Polyend Play
Polyend says that this is quite possibly the most fun groovebox ever created. To start with it has over 3,000 sounds and 30 sample drum kits. You pick your sample and place it anywhere on the grid to start building your tracks. There are familiar sample-based controls for editing and you can manipulate steps, tracks, patterns, variations and Smart Fills. Each track has 35 play modes with Chance, Randomizer, Step Repeat and Action Combos.

So, I think, you can treat each audio track as a drum machine track, so you have a kick sample on one, a snare on the other and then paint in steps on the grid to trigger them. Or perhaps each individual step can have a different sample giving you a very flexible line of rhythms. It doesn’t have to be percussive, it can be notes, but then are they multi-sampled or just pitch shifting individual samples? I confess that I’m not entirely sure but these things will undoubtedly become clear.

Perform
On the performance side, there are a lot of realtime controls to make non-destructive changes like tuning, filtering, overdrive and so on. You can record automation on the fly, edit steps and also record in from a MIDI controller.

Once you have a bunch of patterns you can map them out over the grid for instant triggering. And then there are effects like Reverb, Delay, Sound Enhancer, Limiter and Saturator. It sounds brilliantly “hands-on”.

Sequencer
The 8 channel MIDI sequencer sounds interesting as you can pull in your hardware and software instruments. Apparently, you can send out different MIDI information for each track – remarkable (!) what is this magical multi-channel MIDI thing all about? Each track can have a different length and can send out all the usual MIDI messages and stuff.

There are variations aplenty with up to 128 patterns holding 16 tracks each with 16 variations. That’ll be enough for a few songs I think.

Play on the Grid
The grid is where the action happens though. 16×8 step sequencing with a smaller 4×8 section to the side that deals with controls like mute, solo, variation and keyboard note input. You have MIDI In/Out on the back, a split-screen display and 15 touch-capacitive knobs. There’s also a microSD card slot for samples.

Groovy
If I can get my head around exactly how the audio tracks work then this looks like a fun bit of kit. I always enjoy the visualisation of sequencing and pattern generation. I wonder if it can work as a matrix sequencer? So, I still have questions but hopefully, Superbooth has the answers.

Polyend is on booth 0116.

• Polyend website.
• More from Polyend.

www.thomann.de/de/polyend_play.htm?offid=1&affid=84&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=id3&utm_content=widget

 

Superbooth 22: VIRAM Octopus and Octopoid Tiny Euclidean sequencers

The Octopus is a stunning 8 channel Euclidean based sequencer with MIDI and CV outputs.
The Octopoid Tiny takes one of those channels and rolls with it.

• VIRAM website.

 

Fender files trademarks for NFTs: Could we see virtual Strats?
Fender has applied for Virtual Goods trademarks. Could we see NFTs soon?

Fender has filled a trademark application to enter the world of NFTs . Could we see a similar move from the California guitars maker to the one Gibson made earlier this year? Would you buy a virtual Strat or Tele?

NFTs Trademarks
This new trademark application was spotted by Mike Kondoudis and shared online via his Twitter account. According to the trademark application made by Fender, filed on 28 April 2022, Fender aims to provide the following:

• Virtual goods, including digital artwork, photographs, videos, and audio recordings featuring music and musical instruments.
• NFTs (non-fungible tokens)
• Online non-downloadable information about these virtual good, plus access to virtual goods related to NFTs and other crypto-collectibles.

Virtual Stratocaster & Telecaster
Fender already owns trademarks for these for its guitars, including the Stratocaster and Telecaster, etc. These new trademarks are purely for “virtual goods, namely, digital artwork, photographs, videos, and audio recordings featuring music and musical instruments,” all in the form of “non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other crypto-collectibles.”

Could we see NFTs of these two iconic guitars sometime in 2022?
Well, probably. Especially as Gibson has already gone down that road, as well as ESP. Plus, artists like Joe Bonamassa, Matt Bellamy, Yngwie Malmsteen and the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. My real question though is, who would want to buy them?

Are Non Fungible Tokens a worthwhile investment?
The world of crypto currencies and NFTs is still seen as being very volatile by many, with values on Bitcoin plummeting 50% in the first 5 months of 2022. Also from my experience, many guitar enthusiasts are quite stuck in the ’50s and ’60s when it comes to brands like Fender. So new fangled technology just confuses them. For example, many of them won’t even use a Line 6 Helix. Though I can see the younger audience going for it. But the old guys will probably just scratch their heads and laugh at non-fungible tokens!

I know that I would rather invest my money in either a new USA made Stratocaster or Telecaster. At least I could have fun playing a new guitar. Or maybe gold. I would probably invest in gold. As then I could sell it and buy a new guitar.

More Information

• Twitter
• Fender
• Instagram
• More Fender news

 

Phaseplant 2 is coming

 

I'm holding off on buying a Motu M4 in case something better appears at this show.

 

there is a lot better gear out there, just not at that price i think ;)

 

Yep, it's the price, as always... The M4 is just about how much I want to spend right now.

I could afford a Babyface (not an actual one, too old now) but I haven't really been making music for a couple of years and I don't know if I'll get into it again enough to justify the outlay.

 

Ad from the daily paper:

May I briefly introduce myself - I am a certifier audiosexpro motivator - my job is to motivate you to make music. Buy the M4 thing - plug it in - press a key on your keyboard - play an instrument - enjoy the gift of making music. Learn to feel and hear again - learn to make music again. Be creative - make something yourself. Try to get pleasure and fun from music again.

Send an email from your left brain to your right brain with the following text: I know you have become sluggish due to the constant flood of information, now back to the beginning, what great instruments we have created digitally. I hope I can motivate you again to the music and to the return of human nature.

 

Mr Motivator... Do you wear spandex?